Currently I'm responsible for Special Ops at Qualtrics, #24 on the Forbes list of America's Most Promising Companies.
I specialize in company building in which I design human systems to solve the complex problems that emerge in high-growth startups.
Previously, I was the Director of Editorial Operations & Business Development at Forbes, where I reported to the Chief Product Officer and COO, and before that I was at True/Slant, the online news startup Forbes acquired in June 2010.
I started my career as a management consultant at Bain & Company and co-founded Action First, a political consulting firm based in Washington D.C.
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Steve Jobs Isn't The Only Kind Of Artist Leader

John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gianpiero Petriglieri, a psychiatrist and professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, wrote this after Steve Jobs passed away:

He may have been a genius and a charmer, but he was far from the person the leadership books tell you to be. And even the authors of those books are chiming into the global choir singing his praise. How did that happen? Why did his daily behavior not taint our admiration? Is the shock of his untimely death clouding our judgment, or should we cynically conclude that if you’re extremely successful you can get away with it? Not quite. The reason for much untainted admiration, I suspect, is that we are not mourning a leader or an innovator. Steve may have led and innovated his whole life but he was, ultimately, an artist. Those behaviors, which we may not condone in a leader, we forgive and even expect of an artist.

We need creative leaders in business. The lifespan of large companies will continue to shrink unless they learn to reinvent themselves. The lack of creativity is a problem — a 2010 IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the number one leadership competency of the future – but what are we doing to address it? Unlike the Flynn effect, in which IQ rises with each successive generation, creativity scores among U.S. children have been falling since 1990. We need to develop a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders capable of combatting this challenge.

John Maeda, the president of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and author of the book
Redesigning Leadership, predicts that artists will emerge as the new business leaders and cites RISD graduates Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, co-founders of Airbnb, as prominent examples. The author William Deresiewicz heralds reading as the most important task of any leader. John Coleman makes a compelling case for the role of poetry in business. Intel (INTC) named pop musician will.i.am as director of creative innovation. The World Economic Forum has been inviting arts and cultural leaders to its events for several years and this year added the ‘Role of the Arts’ to its Network of Global Agenda Councils.

We tend to glorify young prodigies, such as Jobs, who have a conceptual approach to creativity, and overlook those who take a different approach. A few weeks ago I wrote:

Experimental innovators create in a different manner. It takes time for them to hone their craft. They return to familiar ideas, trying to perfect them. While conceptual innovators are more deductive in their approach, experimental innovators are inductive and use their observational powers to infer and concoct hypothesize. They use trial-and-error, and it’s this process, not the final product, that fascinates them the most. They devote their life to learning, seeking answers to their unsolved questions.

Few people will be able to emulate Jobs successfully. To develop more artist leaders for the 21st century economy, we need to recognize the contribution of experimental innovation and encourage it — and failure — in our schools and workplaces.

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“Unlike the Flynn effect, in which IQ rises with each successive generation, creativity scores among U.S. children have been falling since 1990″ This is a matter of interest … (well anything concerning our youth) … why is creativity declining? is it the tech being created for us… ‘dumbing’ youth down as they no longer have to think for themselves (just Google it) so no need to innovate or interact with others. Our youth in AU (as well as adults) just want to be entertained and want it now … which is not a futile base for Artist leadership to develop

Insightful and interesting article. Worth noting that the training for designers (who are applied artists in my view) is grounded in observation and empathy. As our leadership paradigm shifts from having the right answers to posing the most interesting questions, we will find these skills increasing valuable.

I wholeheartedly agree. It’s interesting that you mention empathy. When I interviewed Daniel Goleman, I asked him if he thought there’s a correlation between emotional intelligence and creativity. He said that he wasn’t aware of one. But I see what you see: empathy is one of the major building blocks of EQ, and as you point out, a prerequisite for designers.

There’s already a movement afoot to apply arts-based training to leadership development. I imagine more business leaders learning skills that artists employ everyday.

Much of what I write about here is grounded in a simple idea. In addition to the military and sports, the arts ought to influence leadership development, especially if it’s to remain relevant in the innovation economy.

Interesting that reading was highlighted as a source for creativity. I’ve found that engaging my imagination with reading allows me to be more creative musically and artistically. With other ways of consuming ideas and information, sometimes the act of reading seems so mundane, but there is definitely seems to be value in it.

Funny that you’d point out reading, Joseph. I almost omitted it from the excerpt.

What you’re describing reminds me of an analogy I like. Many artists, when needing some creative renewal, will express themselves in a different field. For example, a painter might write poetry before stepping in front of the canvas. It’s like how farmers rotate crops in the fields.

Reading for me can be counterproductive. It’s one of my favorite stall tactics when I’m feeling blocked. It’s easy to keep consuming when what I really need to do is produce.

I disagree with this opinion snippet especially because of its citations of evidence such as…..”creativity scores among U.S. children have been falling since 1990. We need to develop a …. challenge.” Exactly how does one test or measure creativity? We should stop and ask ourselves: Could it be that we are killing creativity and innovation albeit intentionally or unintentionally by our over use/abuse of regulations, policies, procedures, and processes? Should we not ask: Would have Steve Jobs accomplished so much if he was the Mr. Nice Guy everyone wanted him to be? He was successful because of who he was and not because he was what we wanted him to be. Everyone human being on earth is an “outlier” not just Steve. I believe it was not his “genius” but rather his willingness to confront those who stood in his way. This is where most of us fail and where he succeeded. I am comfortable claiming that most people in this world are not inspired beyond their paycheck and happy hour. I am also convinced that not even a leader with infinite energy and niceness is capable of inspiring a workforce formed of such people. This snippet contradicts the very purpose its trying to inspire. It is indirectly suggesting that we need to discover a magical process to manufacture creative leaders. Madness… total madness….What we need are resources, channels, and avenues to enable those who are creative. Those that chose not to waste their time and life jumping through soul sucking hoops…Consider the simple example of a great Chef who could bring his food to the world but before he can do so he must manage a lease, a bank, a health department, a supply chain, accounting, taxes, credit, equipment, employment law, investors, certifications, and somewhere he has to have time to cook. Not too long ago he could have just stood on the corner and sold his food without the need or permission from anyone. The free market decided his success and not multi national layers of governing and controlling agencies. Creativity does not always imply that the creator will deliver something to the world in the way Steve Jobs did. Sometimes it suffices to say that those who live their life the way they see fit are the most creative among the sheep heard. The fact that we have created a society that blocks the rise of their efforts because of our consistent need to control, write about, judge, glamorize, and “own a piece of the action” is our loss not the creator’s. There are far more creative leaders out there than you think. They have simply chosen not to be part of the uncreative world that surrounds them. In that way they can remain creative.

There’s really not much you say that I disagree with. Measuring creativity is admittedly a nebulous endeavor, but the standard that has been used over the years has shown a correlation with creative accomplishment later in life. Take it for what it’s worth.

I’m in no way suggesting Steve Jobs should have been a nicer person or led with a different style. I just meet many people — product managers or entrepreneurs — who want to ignore the customer because that’s what Jobs supposedly did (e.g., creating the tablet market by introducing the iPad), and yet they lack the unique traits that made Jobs successful.

I am suggesting that there’s another approach to creativity that’s equally valid, and that these people should embrace it, not resist it. I’m categorically opposed to unnaturally forcing people into molds, although labels and boxes can be helpful in making sense of a complex world.

I believe that everyone is creative — some more than others. It’s the full expression of being human. But maybe, as you suggest, our society and its overt policies and implicit customs stifle creativity. And I wonder what the world loses as a result.

I’m all for unblocking creative talent, and I don’t think what you’re saying or I’m saying is mutually exclusive.

Thanks for the reply Drew. After I reread what you wrote and how I responded a few hours later I better understood what you were expressing. Of course I had no way of editing my submission. I am pretty passionate about trying to inspire and unlock creativity and leadership in people and I thank you for reading my response “with the energy behind it” rather than the separate tone it could have mistakenly taken. Thank you!